Big Family + Small Flat= No Residence Visa!

(By Mary Nammour) – Khaleej Times- 14 August 2008
DUBAI - Do you stay in a small accommodation with a large family? It's likely your application will be rejected the next time around you apply for renewal of your family's residency visas. The renewal of residency visas for families is now linked to the size of the family and the size of the accommodation they are staying in, said Brigadier Obeid Muheir bin Suroor, Acting Director of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD).

Speaking to Khaleej Times, the official stressed that the DNRD would not be issuing or renewing residency visas for families unless they were staying in a 'proper accommodation'. The DNRD official had said earlier this week that tenancy contract was not a prerequisite in Dubai for renewal of residency visas. However, he has now clarified that providing accommodation to the sponsored persons is an absolute must. Talking to KT, Bin Suroor said, 'We don't get into such details as asking for the tenancy contract, but we ensure that whoever applies for a residency visa for his family, first has accommodation available for himself. Otherwise, the visa application gets rejected.'

Bin Suroor said his department had now become strict on the accommodation condition for residency visa applications. 'When applying for the residency visa for family members, the applicant must furnish proof that he has a proper place to accommodate the family. This proof can be a tenancy contract or a letter from the person's sponsoring company stating it has provided accommodation for the applicant's family. The accommodation can be located in a building, a hotel apartment or a separate house,' he said. 'The space where the person lives should match the size of the family. If the applicant is living in a studio flat, he can't apply for residence visas for a family of many children.' However, when queried about the specifics like how many children for different sizes of flats he said there weren't specific / particular guidelines to be followed by the department in this regard.

He, however, said that DNRD would be looking precisely into the accommodation proof and the 'accommodation feasibility' for the members of family.